Steve McClaren must look forward to the crucial match against Israel at Wembley with some trepidation. Not only have injuries hit some of his key players, but he will be up against Dror Kashtan, the Israeli Sir Alex Ferguson.

Kashtan is the man, Israelis hope, who will take them to their first major championships since they joined Uefa in the early 1990s. The 63-year-old is the most successful coach in Israeli history, with six league titles - with four different clubs - and five State Cup wins. He is fiercely competitive, can often appear grumpy and is certainly not averse to using the hairdryer treatment on his players.

Like Ferguson, Kashtan is a disciplinarian who has very little time for players who do not share his commitment. When Yaniv Katan and Michael Zandberg missed internationals with injury then appeared for their clubs soon afterwards, they were dropped. Another player was omitted, according to the coach, because he was 'not trying hard enough' in training.

'I am not afraid of challenges,' he said when asked about facing England, Croatia and Russia in qualifying Group E. 'I am filled with adrenaline and willpower to face this challenge and the level of expectations - to guide Israel to its first major achievement in 36 years.'

Israel took part in the 1970 World Cup finals but belonged to the Asian Football Confederation then, which made qualifying easier. In their first European qualifying campaign - for the 1994 World Cup - they won only one out of 10 games and conceded 27 goals. But the team improved under the guidance of Shlomo Scharf, who guided them to the Euro 2000 play-offs. The last time around, in qualifying for Germany 2006, they did not lose a game, drawing in France, Ireland and Switzerland and missing out on the play-offs only because they had scored fewer goals than the Swiss. They are no longer overawed and come to Wembley confident of getting at least a draw.

Kashtan is a more attacking coach than his predecessor, Avraham Grant, now director of football at Chelsea, and on Saturday can call on Roberto Colautti, the Argentina-born striker who was suspended for England's dire 0...#8209;0 draw in Tel Aviv in March. He joined Maccabi Haifa from Boca Juniors in 2004, becoming the league's top scorer in his first season and was granted citizenship after marrying his Israeli girlfriend. He scored the only goal of the game eight minutes into his international debut, last September's qualifying win in Estonia.

The star and captain of the team is Liverpool's Yossi Benayoun. 'I have played for the national team for quite some time now and it is an honour trying to help the younger players come through and improve. We have a good team,' says the 27-year-old, who impressed in his club's Champions League qualifying win against Toulouse on Tuesday.

England also have to look out for the 19-year-old Nigeria-born Toto Tamuz, who caused England severe problems down the right in March and Chelsea's forward Ben Sahar. The 18-year-old is on loan at Queen's Park Rangers and after four international appearances has already scored twice.

Two other players - Chelsea's Tal Ben Haim and Deportivo La Coruna's goalkeeper Dudu Aouate - stand out, but otherwise most of the players come from the Israeli league. The domestic competition has not substantially improved despite the continued investment of Beitar Jerusalem owner Arkady Gaydamak - the father of Portsmouth proprietor Alexandre Gaydamak - and his competitors. Beitar could not get past the second qualifying round in the Champions League and Maccabi Tel Aviv's failure was even more spectacular - they lost to Turkish second-division side Erciyesspor in the second qualifying round of the Uefa Cup.

England should win against Israel, but matters are rarely that straightforward under McClaren. And if England fail to gel again on Saturday, then Kashtan and his players will be ready to take advantage.